all her flaws are flawless
by with the monsters
Summary: -so she was this ball of enthusiasm and intensity and he was just a little scared of her at first. only don't tell anyone that.- JesseRachel.


all her flaws are flawless  
_cry pretty tears and sing pretty lies. pretty's all we've got.  
_~for Charlotte, howlsatthemoon._  
_

(Spoilers for 1x14 & 1x15: **Hell-O** & **The Power of Madonna**.)

--

At first she was just An Object. A ticket to victory at Regionals. A petty, somewhat irritating ball of enthusiasm and intensity and in truth he was almost a little scared when he first met her – not that he'll ever admit that, of course.

The thing is, Jesse St James has always been about The Big Picture. The one where he's going to the University of California Los Angeles (which is in Los Angeles, by the way) and he's going to conquer the world and then the music charts. Or maybe the other way around. And perhaps he'll take a short stop at Broadway before he hits true superstardom. He's not quite decided yet.

In fact, he's really not decided about a lot of things. He's not decided about college, about girls, about life. And most of all he's entirely undecided about a Little Inconvenience that is rapidly making its way to becoming a Major Issue. A whirlwind of singing and over-dramaticising silly little things whose name is Rachel Berry.

"Hi," he'd said, holding his hand out. "I'm Jesse."

And she'd believed every single pretty lie that had come out of his talented lips and she'd kissed him just _like that_, in a way that had his insides turning to a mushy ball of failure because liking her just isn't a part of the deal. It's all pretend. That's what he has to keep telling himself. It's all just pretend.

"The truth, Jesse," she says firmly one night when they are lying on her bed feeling very content against each other. "Tell me the truth."

He doesn't know that she's seen him coming out of a Vocal Adrenaline performance, laughing with Shelby, walking with Shelby, _plotting with Shelby_, and he just smiles up at her where she's leaning over him, her hair falling down to tickle his face and distract him.

"The truth? The truth about what?" he dissimilates, grinning his best 'show face' up at her. "The truth that I'm crazy about you?"

The truth that he kind of finds it way too hard to see Finn looking at her in that pathetic, possessive way? The truth that, honestly, he really is crazy for suddenly glancing away from The Objective and finding out that, basically, Rachel Berry is not An Object for him to toy with and eventually toss down and break. Rachel Berry is A Person, and she may just be A Person Who Is Important.

This could be a problem. For Jesse, there are not a lot of people whom he would consider to be A Person Who Is Important. His mother makes the list, just, as does his little sister. Shelby is also important because his career and college placement have an awful lot to do with her and his future lies in her perfectly-manicured, greedy little hands.

"I don't believe you," Rachel says quietly, and she sounds genuinely upset by this. "I saw you with Shelby. I don't believe you."

He reaches up to brush a thumb along her cheek, marvelling again at how smooth the skin feels under his rough pad.

"The whole truth?" he says, and he's not sure when he decided to reveal it all, to Give It All Up in an act that could break him from the perfect, glittering future that is lying right there, waiting for him to snatch it up. "The truth, even if it hurts?"

"Yes," she says firmly, scrambling up in a mess of long hair and fearful eyes and long legs until she is sitting beside him on her bed, staring at him with her pale neck exposed and he doesn't know why but suddenly he feels an awful lot like kissing the side of it. So he does, and she mumbles something and her hands tangle in his hair, pulling him away.

"Tell me," she commands, and he sighs and looks down at his hands.

"The truth is, Shelby wants me to break you. She's undecided as to whether we should attempt to steal you away to Vocal Adrenaline or whether I should just tear you to pieces. And the truth is that you have exactly sixty-eight flaws and your nose is too big."

Her head drops and he knows before he lifts her chin that she is crying, and so his fingers ghost under her face to raise it and he kisses the little sparkling diamonds away. He has always marvelled at her ability to cry so prettily – he always thought it was only possible in the movies.

"But the whole truth, Rachel, is that your flaws are what make you perfect and your nose fits your face _exactly right _and I decided just now that I don't want anything to do with Shelby's plans. You're the most amazing girl I've ever met."

She blinks up at him and there is indecision and disbelief written all across her features, and he sighs and pushes himself off the bed, hitting play on the CD player as he crosses the room.

"I don't expect you to believe me," he says quietly as the soft lyrics of _As Lovers Go _fill the air, bouncing about from wall to wall and gliding easily into her brain. "But being with you is like having every moment be a dance. I'm sorry for lying to you."

"I think you need to go now," she admits, her hair falling down to shield her face. "I need to … think about some things."

He nods, and suddenly strides back across the room to crush her lips to his in a bruising kiss. "I'm so sorry," he whispers against her mouth, and then he pulls back and is gone, just like that.

:…**&**…:

The next day at school she avoids him all morning until, at lunchtime, he finally corners her after artfully dodging the advances of the blonde cheerleader who appears to have some really strange fascination with dolphins and the brown-haired one who seems determined to jump anything male that can walk in the vicinity.

"Rachel," he calls, and manages to capture her at the end of a corridor that is now entirely deserted after lessons have ended for the break. "Did you … you know … make up your mind?"

She bows her head and he closes his eyes, trying to get back to the state where she is just An Object, to be looked at as merely A Ticket To Success. But then she starts gabbling away in that habit of hers (flaw number thirty-two, for anyone who's interested) and so he beams and he leans down and kisses her, silencing all her carefully formulated arguments that he's sure are very eloquent – he just doesn't really want to hear them.

"You mean a lot to me, Rachel Berry, and I promise to always be honest from now on," he tells her, taking her hands and resting his forehead against hers. "I don't think your top is pretty but I'm glad because I'm _tired _of my life being pretty. I want it to be beautiful. And I think it can be, if you're in it. What do you say?"

"For the sake of beauty?" she asks for clarification, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips, and he grins.

"If that's what it takes."

"For beauty," she repeats, and then she is laughing madly and throwing herself into his arms and he's thinking that she's this imperfect kind of perfect and that she has just become The Person Who Is The Most Important and he may have thrown away his whole future – but that's okay, because Rachel Berry is Important. Finally, someone other than himself is Important.

And, in truth, it feels a lot more than pretty on the inside.

--

**A/N:** They're just too adorable. I can't help myself. Please don't favourite without leaving a review, thank you.


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